Week 25: Applied Practice in Context

Activity 1: My community of practice

Who am I?

The final module, Applied Practice in Context, calls for us to keep a reflective journal. Boud et al (1985) defined reflective practice as “a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead a new understanding and appreciation”. Talking to other colleagues, we often do carry out this reflective practice in our heads without too much overthinking, a typical reflection might be - we tried a new activity in the classroom and it didn't work. We then reflect upon why didn't it work? and what could we do next time to increase the likelihood of it being successful or do we need to do something totally new?

At the beginning of this study I started a Blog of my Mindlab journey but got so involved in applying my learning into the classroom that my time seemed to get diverted from my blog to enabling my students to keep their own classroom blog. As well as other collaborative and digital technologies ideas that have stemmed from this study. 

In hindsight, or should I say ‘upon reflection’ it seems a pity I wasn’t able to keep my blog going throughout the course as it has been an amazing learning adventure, but balance is the key, and so when something had to go, the blog was one of the ‘chosen ones’. At times, the workload of this course has totally overwhelmed me and I have had to give up precious family time to keep on top of the coursework, assignments and new classroom initiatives. Time and memories and moments that I can never get back. I often reflect on this, and it makes me feel rather sad, that I have had to choose ‘school work and study’ over spending time with my husband, son and family and friends.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am absolutely passionate about my role as an ‘educator’ and love working in such an interesting and engaging environment. But teaching seems far more that a 9 to 5 job and sometimes it seems to be greedy and it doesn’t seems to matter how much you put in, it just never seems to be enough. I love the kids, variety and challenges that teaching offers me, but on the flip side, I can see why many teachers burn themselves out and I wonder if we will ever take a leaf out of other countries educational system, like Finland, and how things could look if we did. To have more time to do your best for the students, not to have to rush so much or have an ever growing and never ending list of things that need doing, is something that I am sure most teachers can only dream of.  

So who I am? I am a wife, mother, family member, friend, colleague and teacher. I am probably a lot of other things as well, but these are probably my biggest ‘who am I’ things at this time in my life. I have been teaching for 14 years and I qualified as a secondary Science teacher in Aberystwyth, Wales. At present I teach Junior Science and Senior Agriculture and Horticulture at a rural year 7-13 College. Although the way houses are starting to pop up around us I am not sure how much longer we will be rural for.

What is Communities of Practice?

Etienne Wenger first coined the concept of “communities of practice”, which are defined as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion or about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002, p.4). Etienne et al (2015) explain how Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain or human endeavour. It is not a new practice, but through understanding it is now acknowledged that by spending time within this practice, improvements can be achieved in your own professional practices. 

There are 3 key characteristics that contribute to meaningful and successful communities of practice:

1.    The shared Domain of interest.

2.    The Community in which people interact and learn from each other.

3.    The Practice - Members of the community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources. For example, experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems.

What are my professional communities of practice?

What is the purpose and function of my practice? In what ways do I contribute to the community of my practice?

My purpose and function of my practice is to care about the well-being of my students and to help students learn. To provide a safe environment for them to be in and to provide suitable learning programs, that are suited to their individual requirement as well as meeting the requirements of the school. 

My own professional learning community at present includes the Mindlab discussion groups I have become part of whilst partaking in this course. At school all teachers are involved in whole-school meetings and PD sessions as well as smaller department group meetings. During these meetings I take on different roles, such as the learner, mentor, coach and leader. Often, I am asked by colleagues to share ideas, tools and experiences I have gained from the different initiatives I have been trialling in my classrooms.


I often engage in professional discussions in smaller group settings. Sometimes individual teachers will seek my advice during meetings and also I may spend time in non-teaching time with other staff discussing ideas and issues related to our teaching practices. I often provide support and advice when asked by other teachers. I am president of HATA (Horticulture and Agriculture Teachers Association) and this often provides subject-related discussions and professional development that I would not be exposed to at where I work. I am a member of many professional Facebook groups, often related to leadership, education, Science and Agriculture. I am also involved in Primary Industry groups, which I work with to provide links between the students and the Agriculture Industry. I haven't really managed to get a handle on twitter, although I have joined, but it's probably an area that I could do with a little more help, although again, I have a concern of it impeding on my 'home' time, but maybe I just need to find strategies to manage it so that that doesn't happen...or maybe I already have?

What is my specialist area of practice? How does my specialist area of practice relate to the broader professional context?

I am teacher in-charge of my subject, Rural Sciences, and am working hard to evolve all of my programs to provide learning experiences that are engaging, relevant and authentic and better suited to my individual students needs. I have always been keen to offer students hand-on, student-led and fun learning environments but my understanding and knowledge of how to do so effectively has been deepened this year. As has my knowledge and understanding of implementing the use of digital technology into the classroom. This has been mostly due to taking part in the Mindlab Post-Graduate course. 

I also spend time trying to build positive relationships with my students and building links within the community, which will benefit the students learning and the relationship they have in the community now, and in the future. I am keen to try to breakdown silos between subject areas and often approach, share and listen to ideas and request of how we could move forward in this direction. I am also interested in making use of digital technology in the classroom to improve student learning and key competency skills. I also have an interest in how future NZQA formal examinations will change as we start to make more use of digital technology.

References

Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Reflection: Turning experience into learning. London: Kogan Page.

Dawson, P (2012) Reflective Practice. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1aYWbLj0U8

Introduction to communities of practice: A brief overview of the concept and its uses

http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

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